A long-range early-warning radar system that the air force is to buy from the US is scheduled to become operational in five years, defense sources said yesterday. The system will be capable of detecting both the ballistic missiles and cruise missiles that China might use in an attack on Taiwan.
The early-warning radar is designed to provide sufficient time for the military to prepare for missile attacks from China, whether of the ballistic or cruise missile type. It would serve as the eyes for the Patriot PAC-3 anti-missile system that the army is to buy from the US.
In a recent closed-door briefing for legislators on the Legislative Yuan's National Defense Committee, the air force expressed optimism about the benefits of the much-anticipated early-warning radar. But one of the legislators who attended the briefing said that if he were a military leader, he would not be so optimistic.
The legislator, who declined to be identified because an agreement with the military prevents him from disclosing the contents of the briefing, said the early-warning radar would be effective only for a short time since it could not detect all of the ballistic and cruise missiles in China's inventory.
"But even considering the limited capabilities of the early-warning radar that the US is to sell us, the system is still necessary for us to defend against missile threats from China," the legislator said.
The air force has not made public what kind of early-warning radar it plans to buy from the US, but two types have been reported to be under consideration. One is the PAVEPAW system, made by Raytheon, and the other is a modified version of Lockheed Martin's SPY-1 radar, which is currently under development. SPY-1 is a radar system for AEGIS-class ships.
The PAVEPAW has a range of 3,000km while the modified version of the SPY-1 has a much shorter range.
A defense official said that a longer-range radar system like the PAVEPAW is much more desirable than a shorter-range, one but that shorter-range systems achieve greater accuracy.
The air force initially planned to buy two sets of long-range early-warning radar but now plans to buy only one because of budget constraints.
The cost of buying two sets of radar has been estimated at about NT$30 billion (US$909 million).
Two deployment sites were chosen over three years ago for the two early-warning radars. One site is in northern Hsinchu County and the other in southern Pingtung County. As the planned purchase has been reduced from two sets to one, the Pingtung site has been abandoned in favor of the one in Hsinchu.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Kao Chung-yuan (
"We must try to establish satellite links for the anti-missile defense system that is to be comprised of long-range early-warning radar and missile defense systems such as the PAC-III. We do not see the possibility of acquiring such vital satellite links any time soon," Kao said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
Singapore is to allow imports of Taiwanese raw pork for the first time in 15 years, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday. The Singapore Food Agency has approved imports of fresh pork produced by New Taipei City-based Cha I Shan Foods, which had obtained a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) certification from the ministry to export to Singapore, it said. The ministry said it had hoped Singapore would permit Taiwanese fresh pork imports in addition to processed pork products. Singapore agreed to accept Taiwanese fresh pork after completing a document review and a virtual tour of Cha I Shan Foods’ packing
‘FACT-BASED’: There is no ban, and 2 million Taiwanese have traveled to China this year, which is more than the 285,000 Chinese who visited Taiwan, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday accused China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) of shifting the blame for Beijing’s tourism ban on Taiwan, continuing a war of words that started in the past week. The council’s remark came hours after its Chinese counterpart on Friday accused the government of creating barriers to the resumption of reciprocal group tours across the Taiwan Strait. The TAO accused the MAC of releasing untruthful information and dragging its feet on the tourism sector’s call to establishing ferries linking Pingtung County to China’s Pingtan Island. The MAC failed to respond to overtures to restore direct flights and raised the
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) yesterday said the city “does not tolerate violence” after the Taipei City Council reported death threats over a planned screening today of a documentary on alleged forced organ harvesting in China. The council’s report follows a flurry of similar threats targeting theaters and institutions screening the documentary, titled State Organs, which accuses Chinese officials of harvesting organs from incarcerated dissidents and Falun Gong members. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors who planned to screen the film told a news conference earlier yesterday that the organizers of the screening had received a threat of a knife attack signed
RSS